England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Eastham St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Eastham lies in northwestern Cheshire on the banks of the Mersey and on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula. Eastham is located about 9 miles north of the city of Chester and stands on the A550 road which connects Chester with the port of Birkenhead. Whilst once a peaceful rural community Eastham is now part of the contiguous spread of the Greater Liverpool Metropolitan area down the eastern side of the Wirral, properties spread all the way south from Birkenhead to Eastham without a break. Modern developments litter the area, the entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal is in Eastham parish, the Birkenhead to Chester rail line and the modern M53 pass through. The Mersey coast is also a hive of industry with oil storage depots butting uncomfortably up against Eastham Country Park, it is a long time since Job's Ferry allowed crossing of the dangerous sands of the Mersey Estuary. At the time of this transcript Eastham would have largely earned its income from pastoral farming, there is some evidence of salt production on the Mersey Banks also being a local source of income. As a coastal community surface drainage to the nearby Mersey is through the infrastructure of the urban area. Eastham is sited at around 30 metres above the sea, the Wirral is fairly gently undulating and local heights rarely rise to twice that height. Eastham parish was large in a county of large parishes, it covered just over 2,000 acres and would have supported a growing population in the region of 2,400 by the end of this transcript period, the population having grown from nearer 1,000. In Domesday time Eastham was held by Earl Hugh of Chester, a fairly wealthy place holding 21 ploughs and a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the heart of the original village of Eastham on the western side of Eastham Village Road and just east of the A550 and close to its junction with the M53. Whilst the church has its origins in the late 13th and early 14th century very little of this era survives following two extensive rebuilding programs. The western tower with its steeple shows detail of this era but was largely rebuilt in 1751, the four-bay arcades show styling of the Decorated era whilst the northern chapel shows detail of the later Perpendicular period. Almost everything else is from, or has been modified during, an extensive restoration of the 1870s. The church stands in the fork of the junction of Eastham Village Road and Stanley Lane where there is a small parking area. A pleasant lychgate leads to the churchyard where a lengthy path heads through the area to the church. The church is rather enclosed in the southwestern corner and a little patience is required to find the best angles for photography given the extent of the trees in place.